You can't really beat the start of the brown-eyed. Jerry's solo is short but has some really good flavor. Listen to his licks throughout the song, really good flavor. You know, the first time I heard this song I thought I had heard it before, even though I had never come across it . This band has a truly incredible timeless sound that gives that effect. Great stuff here.

Grate Show, Little Rusty On The Lyrics. A Three Week Gap Between Shows Maybe To Blame. But The Playing Is Stellar. Listen To Bobby McGee. From About 1:50 To 3:00 Jerry Sounds Like Wes Montgomery Meets Roy Nichols. His Phrasings Seem To Be Inspired By Billy's Off Kilter Attack. Coming All The Way Around The Barn To Get There, Then Phil Picking It Up. The Show Takes Off From There. For Always Grateful.

That playin' is very gooey and lysergical
Spanish Jam is BEAUTIFUL
Very good show, easily one of my favorites
If you dont want to listen to the whole show, atleast check out the spanish jam and the playin

another one "for the roses"......
REALLY GOT A BELLY 'LOL' outta that review... "....the Bruce Jenner of shows ...." HahahahahHahaha, hahhaha.....
this show.....(excuse me a sec....)
Haahahahhaaaaaahahahaha, hahhaha , OMG.....
"...the BRUCE JENNER, ...... of "Grateful DEAD" shows.....??????? STILL LOL - hahahahahahahaha., haaaaaaahaha....... Sorry folks - but ya' just GOTTA LOVE IT, NOW, 2016...... Post "Bruce" ......dun gone, parts and all ..... Dropped his shoc-put balls for an evenin' dress, and most DEFINITELY WASN'T AT THIS GREAT SHOW..... UNFORTUNATELY, perhaps...... (??????)
This is simply, a REALLY GREAT SHOW!!!!! - PERIOD
Oh what toils we "head's" can make. Oh what 'spoil's' our loving this band, we "take", being so focused on each tree in this VAST FOREST, apparently makes some, with such picky tastes, forget that it ours to enjoy. AFTER ALL, WE ARE.... THE AUDIENCE, and NOT THE ARTISTS, respectively.
And some of us...... NEED TO GET OVER OURSELVES, respectively.......
Hahahahahahahah "NOTHIN LEFT TO DO BUT SMILE, SMILE, SMILE...."

If the sound is not just to your liking try going with the Charlie Miller soundboard of this night available as of this date here on the Archive.
I listened to Bertha from both and for me the Charlie Miller works better with my set-up.
Drums are very high-up so far in the mix perhaps that is why even though it is a mellow show it is like dancing inside Billy's drum kit at times.
Don't you let that deal go down!

listeners are treated to over six minutes of feedback-laden low-frequency blasts and sustained rumble from Phil before Ned jumps in around 6:20 with some complementary chirps and twirps. the two improvisers then engage in a sort of competetive drone-off until phil leaves the stage around the ten minute mark. Ned closes out the proceedings with a series of ring-modulated sample-and-hold sequences. A must-listen for Phil fans. This is Lesh at his most deliciously self-indulgent, if not the most triumphant collective improvisation.

Not the best of 74 IMHO, but still a blistering set. 74 was so great, that it's really a matter of a handful of good, not GREAT shows. I love 74. PITB is masterful. Sound quality is pretty great throughout, minus a few drops.
One issue with all of the reviews, and I know it's been pointed out a thousand times, but its gets tiring looking at every single review on here that states "this is the best XXXXX"..Seriously, a bit of salt needs consuming with all Dead related reviews..S0

I only look for and listen to shows where Phil is prominent in the mix. this is a good one.
check out www.justexactlyright.com for a cool phil starfire bass t shirt.

A great show from the wall of sound era! very hot show. Kieths birthday too!I also love these fast and funky scarlets before fotm was added as a chaser.Lots of good versions here and the eyes is loose and jammy like i like em with phil doing some amazing stuff on bass!

First, the criticism: smgarcia below writes of the numerous missed entries, foul notes, and various boners in this show. I must admit he is right; this show is downright sloppy in many places and the slipshop errors are more than a little distracting. A good example is Here Comes Sunshine, which is painfully messy and hard on the ears. Jerry's tone was brilliant, but the song oscillated between fantastic and amateurish from one moment to the next.
Now for the praise: even with all the miscues, much of the playing in this show is creative and brilliant. Everyone had shining moments,and it was even a pretty good show for Donna. Bobby McGee was very good, Scarlet was on fire, and even El Paso was performed well. The WRS was quite good, but the Eyes of the World was stunning!
There was plenty of fine playing and magic in this show. If not for the unusual number and severity of buzz-killing errors, it would have easily been a five skull show. I gotta give it a four.

love the spanish --> eyes plus distortion on scarlet
for the record, Donna sucked and was nothing but a buzz kill. Nobody hated her until they heard her wailing and shrieking on PITB, OMSN, TMNS, SAD, DITS and many other acronyms. She didn't have a monitor?!? They should have held back on the microphone as well. She has earned all criticisms thrown in her direction.

Well after spending a lot more time with this show over many months i've come to realize that its definitely one of the best of the year. of course like almost any show there are a few weaker tracks, but there are just too many great moments to ignore. one being the fantastic Scarlet in the 1st set that probably is the best version of 1974. it's really unique too b/c JG kicks in some sick distortion for the first part of the jam; can't say i've heard another example of that before.
while i don't find the opening 'jam' to be all that interesting, there are plenty of other great little songs in the 1st set, too, like Deal, BIODTL, and Tennessee Jed, and as other reviewers have said, a spectacular Playin' where phil really lets loose.
which is nothing compared to the ridiculous 2nd set, where he just goes crazy...was this his best year or what?! again, like everyone else i have nothing but praise for the monster jam of WRS>Spanish>Eyes>China. the WRS is the hands down winner for best ever, and the Spanish is also easily the best of the many in '74. and despite the minor key sections of Eyes being a bit wobbly, phil's soloing makes it a fantastically unique version that ranks among the greatest ever played as well.
great, great GREAT show indeed...

This is a great show. Been listening today. Some real gems in here.
Happy Birthday Keith. You are still missed.

Oddly enough, this show did not grab me like others from '74 do. I know it's at the top of most people's list from this year, and perhaps it will grow on me, but right now I feel that there are other shows that outshine it.
That being said, it's got great energy and plenty of serious jamming... The ten minute opener is a great little thing (probably a soundcheck, but who knows). The whole first set is more than solid; Bertha wasn't great (by my standards anyway) but everything from Mexicali through Playing was fantastic, especially Row Jimmy and Scarlet Begonias.
The Playing in the Band here is KICKASS. It's a full half hour and touches on several different grounds. I was sad they didn't seg into something else, but it's a wonderful, compact jam.
The second set is great (skip the Seastones, though...), with Brown-Eyed Women being a great energy boost to start it off. Things get sweet with It Must Have Been The Roses, and the He's Gone > US Blues is great, with an unexpectedly spacey seg in between the two. The WRS through China Doll is fantastic too. Spanish Jam here is one of the best.
So, why was I not COMPLETELY blown away by this? Not sure... Maybe the jams just weren't QUITE my thing, or maybe my ear has temporarily become numb to the sound of 1974. But this sort of thing is awfully subjective. My suggestion - get this legendary show, and decide whether it is YOUR thing or not afterwards. It definitely has the potential to be.

Listen closely for the kicked beer bottle during China Doll @ 3:32... Doh!
Rocking show for sure. Spanish Jam - Dr. Lesh Bass is in..
Englishtown '77 still my favorite Eyes..
Kudos to Gleng1 for the comments on Donna. Although I don't enjoy the wailing on most tunes, she added a dynamic that you gotta love for what it was..

Wit de highest respect...
So you're at a show in '74. The band comes out and starts to jam -- nothing serious, just having a lot of fun playing music with each other -- great musicians playing casually just for the joy of it with what might be the world's best sound system (Wall of Sound) and this is a BAD thing? "Stop all that jamming -- I have important TV shows to watch later." I dunno... if I had caught this at any of the shows I attended I would have been THRILLED!
Separately, let's not be too hard on Donna -- I happen to LOVE her bit in Scarlet Begonias in this era. She came from Muscle Shoals, possible the tightest back-up singers ever and had to find her way with fans who decided that they hater her before she opened her mouth. Unfortunately the Dead never (rarely?) gave her a monitor speaker of her own -- YOU try singing on key without one!
xoxo
Glen

Not my favorite show. Row Jimmy is so thwacked by Donna's screw ups.... the boring 10 min jam before Bertha.... not too exciting... sound not wonderful for 74, there is MUCH better available! Still gotta love the eyes though....

It was Keith's Birthday. He would have been 59 today. Rest In Peace.

That's what I feel after hearing this show. I mean this is a great recording, although it kept cutting out and in during the latter part of the second set which was a bit annoying, but the song selection, and most importantly the playing are fantastic. I see now why there are such rave reviews about '74 Dead, this, I think, was their prime.

Billy is having a good night, scarlet and eyes are my favorites

Good show indeed. But I prefer the late Nov. early December 73 shows. Donna's not in there whailing away. At this point, decisions were being formed to take some time off after October.
A new period of creativity was seeded.

Until my cousin suggested we attend this show, I was a bit out of the loop on what was hip, since I regarded the Dead as a garage band (even though I had their first album in my minature collection. I was 17). Nevertheless, I agreed with the proposal; afterall, a concert was a concert. Man, did I ever get "patriotic" that night. I guess it hit me solid during US Blues, when I realized that this was where IT was at. A life changing event for me. What a show. What an indoctrination.

Pretty Whack 7/19/74
What is up with this show? The mellowness...
The FAT Phil? Jerry's voice? the Jam at the beginning? The BrownEyed Women? The history of the this show? How did you people who saw this not loose it? Geofsky -- mellow is the operative word. Very fun!
Recording?
Problems, for sure --
but whatever.
I'd love a good audience tape of this one...
5 for funness
5 for tunes
4 for tape
overall...
this is a real gem.
"Who are these guys!!!???" -
Quote from Butch Cassidy, not Neal.

At this moment, my personal all time favorite show. The Charlie Miller source of this show is the one to get, hands down. The fix rollandfin suggested has been taken care of and CM also said that the previously circulating SBD source suffers from NR and his does not. If you can, find it & grab it!
Just a stellar show in a year full of them...

Great Show
july and everything after that year is filled with unique material, considering there are only a hand full of dates, mixed in between solo efforts. I find Europe 74, all 5 shows to be great, so to for August. 8/6/74 IMO sounds completely different than what was happening on tour in May-June, and so to does this date. The LIG is rich to say the least, and china doll is grown up a bit, jerry kinda toys with the mars hotel opening notes. (nothing touches Kezar for China Doll, but it's great to hear other excellent versions)
My only complaint is there is a cut in LIG, and considering OMSN is Aud, there might be a patch out there for this hole? I'd love to see that track fixed up.
email me at fieldhouse11277@hotmail.com happy to share with some good listeners.

Such a great laid back show. Jerry is on and Phil is in the Zone. So go grab a couple Tallboys and bask in this one!

I'm relaxing here listening to this show while I organize my office and I have, on a number of occasions, cringed at bad transitions, missed notes and missed lyrics. This is at best an average soundboard recording, and not even an average grateful dead show. There are other better recording in 1974 to choose from. The setlists is all screwed up too, all the songs in the second set are offset by one, so WRS Prelude is actually US Blues, WRS 1 is WRS Prelude, and so forth.
I love the dead but I can't give this recording and this concert more than 2 stars.

Excellent show

I have this one listed in my notes under mellow listening. Has its intense moments but for the most part the nice little jam (sound check ?) on this before Bertha sets the tone for the whole show.
Definitely one of the better post "soundboard pillage" shows I've found in here.
Having once again listened to it, off and on throughout a 5- 6 hour period of my workday, I feel like I did when i made it through a show and was ready for the 3 chord rock me out of here, out to the lot and revel in the amazement of what we all just witnessed.
This band still amazes me.
Any body remember when the Philly newspaper used to rate concerts the day after with 1 - 5 Bears ?
5 Bears

...and I'm a supercritical guy.I used to criticize the quality of shows loudly as they were actually being performed way back in the '70s, but fellow concertgoers used physically persuasive methods to convince me that was a bad idea. Turns out the problem was the palm-tree logo blotter,anyway ;-)
This show is everything a legendary '74 show can possibly be and more besides. Never saw it traded much back when everything was cassette- thank God for etree!

Wow+
I had my whole Dead collection on random and it landed on the jam before Eyes and I had to stop and listen to the whole show. Some how hadn't listened to this one yet. Great Show.
Great reference to Miles Davis Dstone5553. I thought did Miles Davis Live at the Filmore East get mixed in with my Dead. The Jam (partly Spanish Jam) before eyes is sick.

Bertha lives . . . the Deal is amazing . . . . Singing every song that driver knew. Playing in the band, day-break on the land. . . the Eyes have it. . . and China Cat exceeds all previous expectations.

Eyes?
Scarlet?
Tenn Jed? This is unbelievable + there is an unlisted Spanish Jam in there...

There's a lot of shows, but this one is really special as far as I'm concerned. The show starts out with Bertha, unfortunately, the song is lacking its guitar sound in the mix, but oddly enough, it still sounds spectacular. The guitars come up on the next song and they stay there for the rest of the show.
This show features one of the best sounding beat it on down the line and row jimmys I've ever heard, and Donna sounds just wonderful. Me and Bobby McGee sounds really cool the way Bob and Donna sing it and it goes on and on without very much in the way of a disappointment. This is a must have show. Its a wonderful sounding one. He's gone and china doll are favorites of mine that really standout, but the whole show is just absolutely fantastic.
On the down side there's a audience splice close to the end of row jimmy that must have been used to patch it, but it not too bad cause its very brief, and the Encore of one more Saturday night is from an audience tape as well. Other than that, this is a 5 star show.

Full Review another time. This is a pinnacle show period. To the poster below, I can help you out. direwolf600@hotmail.com

wow, i compleatly agree. this is one of the best WRS ever it is sooooo good especialy part one. please download this show. the taggs are bad though :(

Please note that you'll have to change the track tagging on the VBR MP3s which get mislabled/shifted by one song at about Seastones which has no tag, through to the end.
Let me add that this show really is outstanding and even though it doesn't have as many reviews as the 6-18-74 Freedom show in KY, I think the setlist and overall show is a lot better. A great Playin', Bobby McGee, a nice Scarlet thrown in, Jack Straw, WRS, Let it Grow and rarely played Spanish Jam and great Eyes... This show has way more to like than 6-18 and has more life to it. I'm gonna listen to this one A LOT.

this is the best show from 1974. (in my opinion) lots to mention but I will just say WRS>Spanish Jam!!!Best WRS ever! This show would make my top 5 for the WRS alone.
Sound is damn good for 30 yrs ago. It's not absolutely perfect, but for even snobs like me, I happily accept it.

Another great Playin' in the Band from this era, when it rivaled Dark Star and the Other One. Also a different type of Let it Grow that is very much like a Dark Star, complete with Spanish Jam.
EXCEPT for Seastones, which is self-indulgent and downright silly. Skip it, but listen to the rest.

A must have as other noted, but only wanted to mention that when listen to the intro jam I hear hints of Stealin (a tune I wish had survived the early years)

...and I say Row Jimmy Row
Just wanted to add my five skulls to the pile.
Great show available here. Top twenty at the very least.

PHIL IS A BEAST ON THIS SHOW, anybody who loves phil will love this show, one his finest no doubt, hes everywhere droppin bombs like a madman watch out u play it to loud phil might blow ur mind!- just to point a song out of this all around glorious show, the u.s. blues is raw energy

Selland Arena and Fresno are like black coal, dark and ugly, gets all over your hands and all you want to do is burn it. Yet, out of this comes this diamond, a jewel, rising up like waves of color and sight and sound. I will be listening to this show until I too get burned up. Seastones is a great AUD patch as well as the encore. To end a this fabulous show with Eyes>China Doll is to leave you breathless and immobile. To prove once again that life goes on, the encore is a great AUD of OMSN. What fun!!!

One of the most powerful passages in the history or Western civilization.
The Let it Grow is furious. Manic. Perfect. Garcia and Lesh intertwine like lightning and thunder.
Then it gets serious. Very serious. As serious as it's every gotten with any band who has ever picked up instruments and tried to play them as a unit.
The Spanish jam, led by Lesh is just downright stunning. It's what this band is all about and something that every fan should hear, but new fans should probably wait a bit before listening to something this heavy, this thick. It can be quite scary for the uninitiated.
Then the Eyes is wonderful and the Doll is a perfect way to finish it off, even though the Doll can't come close to matching the perfection of what was played before it.
A historic passage starting at the Weather Report Prelude and ending at the Doll.
Dstone5553@aol.com

I can't believe no one has written about the spanish jam in between the grow and eyes. This is some of the nastiest, most brutal Phil you will ever hear. Get ready cause it's out of on eof the best grows of all time (can you imagine what a huge statement that is!. The wrs through the china doll might very well change your life. Don't even touch it if you don't think you're ready.

Sit back & listen on a summer afternoon to this show!! The best!! I love this show's WRS>EYES. It chills dem bones!!....

Fer chrisesakes get this one now! A ridiculously jazzy Playin' jam fer twenny some-odd minutes awreddy. I'd love to have seen these guys when they closed a first set with a thirty minute Playin'. Second set is mighty as well. Jack Straw rivals my fave from 5/8/77, WRS>LIG smokes, Eyes is super jammy goodness. GET IT GET IT GET IT

My FIRST Show! Nuff said!

some nice selection for the closing jam with hes gone>us blues>wrs>eyes>omsn great stuff

Spectral and Frequency analysis shows this source 12381 to have between 20 and 24db of noise reduction applied and was not noted in the text file. Source id# 9407 was used for this source and it is not known yet whether that source has the same noise reduction applied, however, Tim Symons has told me he did not apply noise reduction to 12381. If anyone has 9407 and could upload a couple of tracks for testing, please contact me at: jashley@deadacated.com .
jay

great sound as always for this era. could not get any 74 shows when i was teen could never get tickets always my sister and her friends i had to wait till 77 hartdford conn, but this was my favorite sound and jam era I LOVE THIS SIGHT THANKS TO ALL KEEP THE SHOWS COMING AND I WILL CONTINUE TO REVIEW
LCHANGE43.

this is the bruce jenner of dead shows there is something for everyone and concur with the others this is epic - phil is over the top in let it grow (which I believe is the best I have ever heard)spanish jam into eyes??? and the playin is rocking....my advice is turn on the pacemaker and let this one rip

The Spanish Jam>Eyes is worth the download all by itself, but the rest of this show is pretty solid. The Scarlet is a fine stand-alone version and the Playin is a half hour long covering lots of ground and youve gotta love a 74 Straw.

This show belongs in your collection. Period. It is so sweet it makes my brain swell. That second set is what it's all about. This, along with
5-14, is just about my favorite '74 show. Two stiff thumbs up!

not only is the show a jaw dropper (74 was a year of unparalled consistency imo) but the sound quality rivals that of any seed from this era available now. analog warmth at its finest.

Great show, terrific sound. Fresh original jams. Had a great time at the show as a college kid, but was amazed revisiting it now. Full WRpt suite, many other highlights.

Sweet Owl.